From the festival floppies collection.

This program draws a balloon and sounds a tone when any key is hit. The balloons are a random size, color and are drawn at random locations on the screen. Each key is assigned a different tone (the user can play tunes by pressing the appropriate keys).

Hitting the down-arrow key causes the balloon to shrink until it disappears.

Hitting the up-arrow key causes the balloon to grow until it pops. After the pop, a rainbow is drawn and the first phrase of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" is played.

For EGA & VGA monitors, Hitting the G makes green balloons
B makes blue balloons
R makes red balloons
Y makes yellow balloons
W makes white balloons

For CGA monitors, Hitting the Y makes yellow balloons
G makes green balloons
R makes red balloons

Hitting qu (short for quit) stops the program.....

If you forget, you will have to CTL-ALT-DEL to get out.

=================================================================

STARTING THE PROGRAM:

1) Type the following on the DOS command line: balloons
2) Press the enter key.

The DOS command line is the place where one types in the name of
programs. It often has a "command prompt" at the left side the
line that looks like C:> or A:>.

==================================================================

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:

- If your monitor is set to 40 column mode, set it to 80 column color mode before the program is started. (use the DOS command: MODE CO80).

- To allow a small child to continuously hold a key down and the program run without overflowing the keyboard buffer, the program discards all keys which are in the keyboard buffer while the program is drawing a balloon. For slow machines this has the following implication: The processor may not be fast enough to discard all of the extra keys and draw the balloon at the same time. If this occurs, you will hear the high-pitched beep that indicates the keyboard buffer has overflowed. Just take your hand off of the key for an instant and the program will have time to discard the keys in the buffer and draw the balloon. This problem does not occur with faster machines.

- If you have a CGA monitor, the program can only draw balloons and rainbows in 3 different colors. This restriction is due to the way Turbo C and the CGA video card work together.

If no option is used, the program tries to determine which monitor your computer has and then writes directly to the video card RAM. Writing directly to the video card RAM only works if your system's video hardware is identical to IBM display adapters.

The following table shows the valid starting options. You may wish to use these if the program is unable to determine which monitor your computer has.

| write directly | use DOS
Monitor | to video card | video interface
-------------------------+----------------+-----------------
CGA | CGAD | CGA
VGA | VGAD | VGA
EGA (high resolution) | EGAD | EGA
Let program decide | | DOS

MY CHILD'S EXPERIENCE:

This program was written for my son, Charles, who wanted to work on the computer (hit on the keyboard), because he saw his parents doing this. However, he was too young mentally and did not have the fine motor skills necessary for programs that show A when "a" is hit, etc. He just wanted to push the keys and see something happen. He likes balloons and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" was one of his favorite songs. So this program was conceived to give him a way to hit any key and see something happen. He learned surprisingly quickly (and remembered) where the up and down arrow keys are and the keys that made the color of balloons he liked (G, B and R). This program has been a very positive experience for Charles; I hope you find that to be true for your child as well.

As an aside, because his favorite color is green, when the balloons are made randomly, there will be more green ones than any other color.

DISTRIBUTION OF PROGRAM:

You can give a copy of this program to anyone who wants it. Please encourage them to register if they find the program useful.

This is the point where I'm supposed to ask you to send money if you like this program. My husband and I are honest people; I trust that you are as well. If, indeed, you value this program and your child's interest in it, please send the registration form included with this program (balloons.reg) and the registration fee to: AssistWare

The registration fee for this program is $7.00. If you send $7.00, we will register you as a user, entitling you to future upgrades, technical support and information about other programs for your child.

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